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The Morning Skate: Big Hits, Big Mouths and Big Yawns

By Stu Hackel June 4, 2008 12:26 pmJune 4, 2008 12:26 pm

Kronvall’s Greatest Hits, Volume 1.

Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final goes tonight in Pittsburgh, and one of the things we’re wondering about has been the absence of the big hits that Detroit, especially Niklas Kronvall and Brad Stuart, were laying on the Penguins’ puck carriers early in the series.

These were very effective, often in the Penguins’ end of the ice, and did a lot to disrupt the Pens’ breakout in the first two games. They caused turnovers galore, wrought massive confusion among the young Pens and played a major role in Detroit’s early domination.

We saw one of those big hits used to great advantage by Darren Helm on the Wings’ first goal in Game 5, a goal Helm scored himself, but they haven’t played nearly as prominent a role in the Wings’ game as the series has gone forward.

Have the Wings changed their game plan? Have the big hitters just gotten tired as the series has progressed?

No, according to one hockey analyst who is watching the final closely.

“Pittsburgh is being smart by not bringing the play up that side of the ice any longer — their defensemen aren’t hanging their forwards out to dry like they were earlier in the series,” he says.

In the first two games, the Pens defenders would start the breakout by giving the puck to their forwards along the boards pretty deep in their own zone. That has now changed.

“They are making better decisions with the puck coming out of their zone,” says the analyst, who requested anonymity because he’s reporting on the series for another media outlet. “They’re coming up more through the middle.”

It’s a subtle change, but an important one. No coincidence that when those big hits started fading from the series, the Penguins started winning games and did much better than they did in losing Games 1 and 2 by an aggregate score of 7-0.

Babcock plainly admitted sending a message to the league about the calls being made through his press conference. “I’m just gonna try what the other guy’s been trying all series.” The other guy is Pens Coach Michel Therrien, and he has used his media briefings to complain about the Wings obstructing. It seems as if the griping has worked, and Babcock now wants in.

No. The problem is that coaches feel they should or must use the media to send messages to the officials, the officiating department and the NHL on how the games are being called. We now have the image of a coach who complained a few times the officials missed calls, so those calls started getting made, followed by the opposing coach saying, “Me too.”

It makes for great stories and keeps controversy and interest percolating, but it also greatly cheapens the competition for the Stanley Cup, undermines the work of the officials and the reputation (such as it is) that the league has among the fans and the media.

Not passing judgment here on who started this nonsense (because Therrien, who began it this round, is only doing what other coaches have done in prior rounds and prior years — many, many prior years) and how quickly the other coach should respond, but we must ask this question:

Why isn’t the league capable of handling these matters privately in meetings between the coaches and the officiating department?

Yes, Therrien and Babcock are merely aping what coaches in the NHL have done forever. Does that make it right?

It’s a time-honored tradition of open whining and complaining from coaches and managers that radiates to players, fans, announcers, newspapers, everywhere.

Enough.

If this isn’t already being done — and it sounds from Babcock and Therrien like it isn’t — the NHL’s officiating supervisors and hockey operations department should be in constant contact, having regular meetings with the coaches and GMs, especially surrounding each game of the playoffs. That is the proper forum to raise complaints about calls that aren’t being made but should be.

The coaches can bring DVD’s with them as evidence of their complaints. The league can do likewise if it sees potential problems with the way the game is being played. They should hash out their differences, come to an understanding and leave it there. If problems still arise, you meet again.

The league should step forward and do a better job of protecting its integrity.

Or do they honestly believe allowing these public gripe sessions to continue will attract more Game 6 TV viewers in, oh, let’s say Salt Lake City?

Tort’s Law: “He was fierce and unyielding. He was funny and profane. He was the toughest son-of-a-gun in the room, and that includes the guys who were paid by the stitches. Oh, by the way, he also squeezed in a Stanley Cup title.”

Sounding more like an obituary than a story on a coach losing his job (for some coaches, it’s probably the same thing), that is the way John Romano in today’s St. Petersburg Times describes deposed Lightning coach John Tortorella.

Romano’s story is good on the “Legend of Torts” (and “Tortorella’s foot-on-your-throat style”) and even better on some the changes that new ownership plans for the club, including a reduced role for GM Jay Feaster, who appears as if he will at least stay employed in the Oren Koules era.

Scuderi freely admitted that he was hoping for blood (as he should have) after Hudler got him. You think the refs and Coly Cambpell were too? :) It was good to see the refs get a break and be forced to call a penalty in OT, considering the scrutiny they’re under.

Go Pens (I just want a Game 7), but please no more OT (working tomorrow).

Stu is completely correct. I don’t completely like the NFL’s “no First Amendment when it comes to criticizing refs” policy, but enough is enough, particularly for a sport that needs to attract fans. Fans are already predisposed to blaming the refs rather than their own team’s shortcomings, and thus letting the coaches throw fuel on that fire does a great disservice to the league.

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